A Whirl Wind Trip

My SIL was behind on her student observations.  Well who could blame her, in a week and a half, her mammogram revealed a tumor, so she had several tests and a biopsy.  All that culminated in a lumpectomy.  Two days after surgery we were on the road to catch up on the observations.  Her students are spread all over southeast Tennessee or so it seemed.  We traveled about 150 miles and visited student teachers and practicum students at eight schools! Whew!

Once at the schools, we would divided and conquer with her seeing some students and me seeing the others.  It worked out pretty well and I got to see some interesting schools.  One school had 2 baby grand pianos: one in the lobby and another in a wide hall that I didn't understand the purpose.  I have no idea why I didn't get photographs.

However I did get some other very interesting photographs.  The first school we visited was an intercity school with the smell of a chicken processing plant outside. Not every encouraging The school as old but what a surprise when we entered! There were four enormous photographs on the wall. I got Kay to stand beside my favorite.

But across the lobby was a wonderful art installation or a different type. I wanted to wander inside this piece and absorb it but we had to skidaddle.

 One school had a huge fish display.  

This was only one of four aquariums in the lobby.  Each was four to five feet long. 

 Lots of schools were clean and neat with murals painted on the walls but this next one is a STOP IN YOUR TRACTS exhibit.

The students of Whitwell Middle school collected 11 million paper clips to commentate the victims of the holocaust.  These paper clips are now housed in a museum that is in a train car that was used to take Jews to the camps. Around the exhibit are butterflies (see below for explanation).  The box car is located in front of the school and it is a very sobering site but it is also a wonderful tribute to the students and community who worked together to make this a possibility.

The boxcar. In the foreground is one of the mosaics of a butterfly and if you look carefully you may see a large wire sculpture of a butterfly..

To commemorate the children of the holocaust. Notice the huge paper clip.

Portion of the exhibit inside the boxcar.

Outside exhibit

Below is information copied from the Whitwell Middle School webpage.

In 1998 eighth grade students at Whitwell Middle School began an after-school study of the Holocaust.  The goal of this study was to teach students the importance of respecting different cultures as well as understanding the effects of intolerance.  As the study progressed, the sheer number of Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis overwhelmed the students.  Six million was a number that  the students could not remotely grasp.  The students asked Sandra Roberts and David Smith if they could collect something to help them understand the enormity of this extermination.  The teachers told the students to ask permission of principal, Linda M. Hooper.  She gave the students permission to begin a collection, IF, they could find something to collect that would have meaning to the project.  After some research on the Internet, the students decided to collect paper clips because they discovered that 1) Joseph Valler, a Norwegian Jew is credited as having invented the paper clip and 2) that Norwegians wore them on their lapels as a silent protest against Nazi occupation in WWII.

Students began bringing in paper clips.  They wrote letters to famous people asking for a paper clip.  The students also asked people to share their reasons for sending a paper clip.  To date over 30 million paperclips have been sent to Whitwell Middle School.  In addition, the project has received 30 thousand + letters, documents, books, and artifacts.  All of these have been counted and catalogued by students and are on display in the Children's Holocaust Memorial Research Room located at the school.

The paper clip collection has become a part of the "Children's Holocaust Memorial" created by the students, staff, and community of Whitwell Middle School.  The Memorial contains 11 million paper clips housed in an authentic German transport car honoring the lives of all people murdered by the Nazis.  And eleven million other paper clips are contained in a monument honoring the children of the Holocaust.  Orginally, eighteen (for chai-Hebrew for life) butterflies (the Christian symbol of renewal and the Children of Terezine) enhanced the grounds around the rail car.  Over the years, visitors have left several more butterflies.  The students, staff, and community of Whitwell Middle School have transformed the car from a death car into a symbol of renewed life honoring the lives of those murdered by the Nazis.  For generations of Whitwell students, a paper clip will never again be just a paper clip.  Instead, the paper clip is a reminder of the importance of perseverance, empathy, tolerance, and understanding.

The Children's Holocaust Memorial consists of an authentic German rail car that was used to transport victims to concentration, labor, and death camps. The rail car houses eleven million paper clips, one for each victim of the Holocaust.  A small park surrounds the car.  Orginally there were eighteen butterflies some inlaid with stained glass and others free standing copper sculptures.  Over the years visitors have left additional butterflies so the number grows daily.  There is also a monument honoring the children lost in the Holocaust. The Holocaust Research Room houses over thirty thousand letters, a collection of Holocaust books, artifacts, and art.

Facts and brief history of the rail car:

This rail car was built in 1917 and used for many purposes over the years.  After being bought by a German state-owned company in the late 1970's, the car was used for intra-company transport and then abandoned.  During World War II, the Third Reich used this car to transport prisoners to camps.  The car was discovered after the war in Poland, near the town of Chelmno.  It was used as a grain car after World War II.  The grain holes in the floor and the ventilation hole in the roof were put in after the war.  This historic rail car transported  80 to 150 prisoners at a time to the camps. 

The rail car at Whitwell Middle School was part of the "German Reichsbahn" and is one of the very last remaining "cattle cars" of the Nazi era.  This car was located in a railroad museum in Robel, Germany.  Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder Hildebrand (White House correspondents for German newspapers) purchased the car and donated it to Whitwell Middle School.  This German rail car, numbered 011-993, was also used in the European film "Stalingrad" and in the U.S. film "Enemy at the Gate".

How the car made it to Whitwell:

When the Schroeders purchased the car from the museum in Robel, they took on the daunting task of getting the car to Whitwell.  After inspection by technicians of the German rail company, the car was declared "rollable" (maximum speed of 30 miles per hour).  The German Armed Forces had the car sprayed and disinfected for foreign insects.  The "Deutsche Bahn" had a decorative locomotive in front of the car and towed it under official designation "Special Train Holocaust Memorial".  The car traveled 300 miles to the German port of Cuxhaven. 

By special arrangement with the German Armed Forces, the Memorial Car was placed on the chartered Norwegian freighter "MS Blue Sky" and was transported to the United States port of Baltimore. 

Upon arrival in the United States, the car had to be cleared through customs and the required inspections of the US Dept. of Agriculture. From Baltimore, the CSX Rail Company transported the car to Chattanooga, Tennessee via one of their flatbed rail cars because the wheel gage of the German car conflicted with American rails. Fletcher Trucking Company of Whitwell, Tennessee provided the transportation for the final leg of the trip from Chattanooga to Whitwell Middle School. 

B & B Crane Company donated the services of an operator along with a crane capable of lifting 600,000 pounds to set the car on the tracks at the Memorial site.  The tracks, which the car sits on, were donated by CSX Railroad Company. These tracks were made in Tennessee in 1943.  Members of the community beautified the area surrounding the car.